Kirtsen Piccini of The Kir Corner is a blogger who makes you think. Her struggles with infertility are part of the fabric of her blogs and her ability to share that heartache to help others is one of the best things we love about her.

We love her and know you will, too. She has graciously agreed to take part in our "12 Days of Gratitude" series featuring some of our favorite bloggers musing on the concept of thankfulness. See below:

A Christmas Carol is my favorite story of all time, Christmas or otherwise, for lots of reasons. Some of them revealing themselves quite recently with all kinds of gifts attached.

Wonder.

The promise of a miracle.

A Christmas Carol is really the story of humanity; A true message of giving to one another instead of hoarding things for yourself, of letting go of the past and righting your future. I have always found this tale of redemption soothing and comforting and the truest example of what life and in turn the holidays should be all about.

I’m not sure what it is, maybe it’s the understanding that my sons have gained; because even at *almost* 4 both boys know that “Scrooge was bad and then the Ghosts helped him be a GOOD Boy”. Or maybe it’s the sparkle in their eyes as they rattle off the names of each character, repeat dialogue or simply look at me and say “this is my favorite part.” There is MAGIC in the MESSAGE of that classic story.

Honestly I didn’t think that the story could hold any more meaning for me.

But then I had Jacob and Jacob fell in love with Scrooge and his story all over again, I saw this deeply moving story through his little brown eyes and I realized that unconsciously I may have made my own Christmas Carol.

For those of you that don’t know, Jacob was named as a “Thank you” to God. I don’t say those words lightly, John and I wanted to bestow a name that would express all the feelings we had after struggling through the years of infertility, a name that would remind us, each and every day,that we had much to be THANKFUL for.

We had Chosen Giovanni (John’s name in Italian) for our first son and then set about choosing a name for his twin. Names we tossed around included Zachariah and Jude. Yet, it was right before our 20 week ultrasound we settled on Jacob. Our first daughter would have been named Rachael, because in the bible she was infertile and finally had a child with Jacob after years of trying. Also, Jacob waited for Rachel, promising her father that he would work for him until he could take Rachel as his wife. While we have been known to say that Gio & Jacob sounds cuter than Gio & Zach, the truth is that the name Jacob spoke to us and even though it was very common (something I am generally not happy about) it served a higher purpose by being a daily devotion for our gift.

You’re probably wondering how I got to talking about my son’s name instead of A Christmas Carol, but I told you earlier that something has just occurred to me during this recent love fest of my favorite story. I think for the longest time I saw Bob, Ebenezer, and even Tiny Tim as central to the story, the game changers.

Yet, lately I have been giving extra consideration to Jacob Marley; the scary ghostly, frustrated soul of Ebenezer’s business partner. If you look closely you know that without Jacob there would be no story, sure the Ghosts of Past, Present and Future might have visited Scrooge but to what end? If Jacob had never begged his friend and partner to think about what he was doing, if he didn't come to forewarn and offer the second chance he did would Scrooge have heeded any message those spirits?

Imagine my joy as I realized that subconsciously I could have named my little creative soul for the man that helps to change Scrooge’s heart, which inspired him to say: